Feds launch new salvo in iPhone access fight

The Justice Department fired off a new salvo in its battle with Apple on Friday, arguing that the company's "marketing concerns" should not entitle it to defy a court order to help the FBI access encrypted data on an iPhone used by one perpetrator of a deadly terrorist attack in California late last year.

The "motion to compel" filed Friday in federal court in Riverside, California, sought to rebut claims by Apple CEO Tim Cook in a defiant letter to customers dated Tuesday, in which he called the FBI's request "unprecedented" and claimed the FBI "asked us to build a backdoor to the iPhone."

"The assistance ordered is not a 'backdoor' or a 'hack' to all of Apple's encryption software," the new motion argues. "That is an unwarranted and inaccurate characterization."

The Justice Department asserts that it is simply asking Apple to disable the auto-destruct feature on the phone used by Syed Farook at the time of the December shooting that killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California, and to make it easier for the FBI to try various passcodes to access the phone.

The government also contends that the courts should not take into account damage done to Apple's business that might result from its compliance with the order.

"Marketing or general policy concerns are not legally cognizable objections to the order," the motion says. "The analysis of whether a court order presents an unreasonable burden is focused on the direct costs of compliance, not whether the party strongly disagrees with the concept of complying."

The timing of the motion seems unusual given that Apple has yet to file any legal pleadings with the court. The government motion seeks to set a March 22 date for a hearing on the issue. Apple had previously been expected to respond to the magistrate's order by next Friday.